Agencies SEC Newgate CEE and VML are behind the Koalicja Przeciwko Samotności campaign, initiated by Joanna Przetakiewicz and the Era of New Women social movement. On World Mental Health Day, the campaign’s organizers are announcing further activities to educate about men’s mental health and normalize conversations about mental crises.
The involvement of agencies SEC Newgate CEE and VML pro bono in the „Koalicja Przeciwko Samotności” campaign stems from the social responsibility inherent in their work. The focus on men stems from the fact that they are much less likely to seek psychological help. Shocking statistics and a number of personal stories led SEC Newgate CEE and VML to form a coalition to work together with the Era of New Women to develop a campaign that would normalize the mental health crisis and make reaching out for specialized help more widespread.
The initiator of the nationwide social campaign is the Era of New Women Foundation – the largest committed activist community in Poland, with more than 820,000 members affiliated with clubs in Poland and abroad.
Work on the campaign lasted several months, during which meetings and consultations were held with prominent experts from SWPS, the Polish Academy of Sciences and psychotherapists. The Minister of Health and the Minister of Education were also invited to discuss possible ways to solve men’s mental health problems. The result was the establishment of the „Koalicja Przeciwko Samotności”.
Teams implementing the campaign:
- Era of New Women: Joanna Przetakieiwcz, Edyta Belder, Marcel Gabrusiniec.
- SEC Newgate CEE: Zofia Bugajna-Kasdepke, Agata Rychlik, Jagoda Prętnicka-Markiewicz.
- VML: Piotr Osiński, Adam Głowacki, Paweł Loedl, Michał Banaszewski, Berenika Barczak Kilavuz, Paulina Rauber, Dawid Szczepaniak, Tomek Szkodziński.
The 12/15 release
Koalicja Przeciwko Samotności was announced on June 11, 2024. To the surprise of the guests invited to the event, it was not a fashion show, but a performance in which twelve men one by one fell into an abyss symbolizing suicidal death. The dramatic message of the event drew attention to the statistics contained in the numbers: 12/15. In Poland, 15 people commit suicide every day, and 12 of them are men.
The campaign was supported from the very beginning by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, the Polish Academy of Sciences and SWPS University. Influencers and public figures have been involved in spreading the message of how to identify mental problems and how to talk to people in crisis. The launch event of the Koalicja Przeciwko Samotności was co-organized by SEC Newgate CEE, VML, 2Koma7, Bohema2.8, and directed by Kasia Sokolowska.
Further campaign includes meetings of the Koalicja Przeciwko Samotności within the Era of New Women clubs. Attention to mental education especially for men was also raised during the Economic Forum in Karpacz and the Campus Poland of the Future.
The first phase of the campaign reached nearly 10 million recipients.
Living a new life
The Coalition is entering its next phase in October. Starting on October 10, World Mental Health Day, the campaign is launching a series of talks by Joanna Przetakiewicz on mental health: “Living Again.” The YouTube channel VIVA! Magazine will broadcast the talk show twice a month. The guest of the first episode will be Jakub Błaszczykowski.
Crisis Coming Out
On October 21, a Crisis Coming Out will be held at Bohema 2.8 in Warsaw. The aim of the event is to raise awareness about men’s mental health and break the taboo on emotional difficulties. The event will be attended by men known in public life, business, sports and pop culture stars, who have decided to reveal what crises they faced in the past and how they dealt with them.
